The data is based on approximately 83,500 small businesses customers of Intuit Online Payroll.

Small-firm compensation also increased 0.08 percent in August to $2,737 a month compared to July’s $2,735 a month, Intuit said.

But small business revenue fell by 0.6 percent from the previous month. The retail industry, along with the accommodation and food services sector, saw the biggest declines at 1.1 percent respectively, followed by real estate services at 0.7 percent.